DR. MARK HIXON
OREGON BIOSKETCH:
MARK HIXON is a professor in the Department of Zoology at Oregon State University
(OSU).His expertise is the ecology of coastal marine fishes, emphasizing underwater
experiments off the US West Coast and various tropical locations.Mark completed his Ph.D. at
U.C. Santa Barbara, where he studied the ecology of kelp-forest fishes.
At OSU since 1984, he has participated in long-term manned submersible studies of fish
communities inhabiting rocky banks on the outer continental shelf of Oregon.His research has
clarified mechanisms that naturally regulate populations and sustain biodiversity of marine
fishes.
A Fulbright Senior Scholar and Aldo Leopold Fellow, Mark serves on the editorial boards of the
professional journals Ecology and Ecological Monographs.He is past chair of both the Marine
Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), and the Ocean Sciences Advisory Committee for the National Science
Foundation (NSF).Mark recently co-chaired a state-appointed committee to design marine
protected areas off Cape Perpetua, Oregon.He has won various awards for teaching, and his
public outreach includes many lectures, media interviews, and most recently, TED talks on the
web.